Open AutoCAD with a specific template

You can launch AutoCAD with a specific template of your choice. You do this with a command line switch.

When you double-click the icon on your desktop or start AutoCAD from the Start menu, you are executing a statement. You can customize this statement by adding parameters, also called switches.

To learn the statement of your desktop icon, right-click it and choose Properties. On the Shortcut tab, look in the Target text box. This is also where you add a switch. For example, the statement might look like this:

“C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2012\acad.exe”

To add a switch insert a space after the end of the statement and add a forward slash (/), then the switch you want. (AutoCAD has a number of switches, not just for templates.) In most cases you also add a descriptor.

For a template named mytemplate, you would add /t mytemplate. The statement for the Tutorial-iArch template would then look like this:

“C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2012\acad.exe” /t Tutorial-iArch

Note: You need to add quotation marks around any path or name (such as the template name) that contains spaces.

I recommend duplicating the existing shortcut. When you use this method, you can create different shortcuts for different templates. To change the command line switch, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the shortcut and choose Copy.
2. Right-click the desktop and choose Paste. You’ll either get a new shortcut with “Copy” appended to the name or a dialog box that gives you the option to keep both the original and the copy with a number appended to the name. You can change the name of the shortcut to reflect the name of the template it will open.
3. Right-click the shortcut copy and choose Properties.
4. On the Shortcut tab, in the Target text box (not the Start In box), move the cursor to the end of the existing statement.
5. Press the spacebar to add a space, then type /t and another space. Finally add the name of the template. Be sure to add quotation marks around the template name if it contains spaces.
6. Click OK.

Try out your new shortcut by double-clicking it!

Did you find this helpful? Do you use switches? How?